중앙데일리

Burst pipe turns street into boiling death trap

일산 지하 온수관 터져 1명 사망

Dec 08,2018

Korea JoongAng DailyThursday, December 6, 2018

A car lies crashed into a road, subsumed by the bursting of a hot water pipe in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday evening. The passenger, a 68-year-old man surnamed Song, was found dead after boiling water filled his vehicle. [KIM SEONG-RYONG]

An underground pipe carrying hot water to local neighborhoods in Goyang, Gyeonggi, burst on Tuesday evening, killing one man and scalding over a dozen people.

*underground: 지하의 *scald: (뜨거운 물 수증기에) 데다

화요일 저녁 경기도 고양 지역 지하에 매설된 온수수송관이 터지는 사고가 발생해 1명이 사망하고 수십 명이 화상을 입었다.

Boiling water of around 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit) erupted like a geyser from the pipe at around 8:43 p.m., gushing as high as the 10th floor of a building, according to local residents who witnessed the incident.

One 68-year-old man, identified by his surname Song, died in his car after suffering burns from boiling water that flooded his vehicle, according to firefighters. Emergency responders said that burns covered his entire body when he was removed from the car.

Pandemonium ensued on the street for at least an hour as people screamed in pain as their feet were scalded. Many had to be carried to safety by other pedestrians. At least 23 people were admitted to the hospital that evening.

When the hot water was shut off by its operator - the Korea District Heating Corporation’s Goyang branch - at around 9:55 p.m., a total of 2,861 households in the area were left devoid of hot water as the temperature dropped to its lowest point this winter in Seoul, minus 6.6 degrees Celsius, on Wednesday morning.